Scalpel



H. W. RO'ELING.

SCALPEL.

APPLICATION FILED FEVB. 51.1920.

- Patented Feb. 15, 19211`f' HENRY WILLIAM IROELING, OF NEW ORLEANS,LOUISIANA.

SCALPEL'.

Speclication of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. l5, i921.

Application led February 5, 1920. Serial No. 356,548.

To all vwhom t may concern:

Be it known that l. HENRY WILLIAM ROELING, a citizen of the UnitedStates,V residing at New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State ofLouisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inScalpels; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to improvements in scalpels, and has foran object to provide an improved scalpel in which a minimum number ofparts will be employed and arranged to be readily disassembled so thatthe same may be readily sterilized.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide an instrumentwhich will be simple in construction, economical of manufacture and atthe same time capable of being readily assembled or separated into itsvarious parts, whereby subsequent blades may be substituted quickly.

1t is a furtherV object of the present in- Vention to provide animproved scalpel in which the blade is separable from the handle bywhich it is carried, which merely necessitates the discarding'of the'blade after Ythe'same becomes dull, whereas the handle may be usedindefinitely and supplied with fresh sharp blades whenever occasiondemands. This is a distinct improvement over the scalpel as at presentin use, as the entire instrument must be .discarded after being usedonce or twice.

A still. further object of the present invention resides in providing aninstrument of this character in which a guard is formed bythe handleabout the blade, allowing only a small portion of the blade to project.0f course this guard feature is so arranged and constructed in relationto the blade edge that it will not hamper or prevent the surgeon frommaking the incision, but in delicate operations the presence of a vguardeliminates the danger of the blade accidentally slipping or of possibleunsteadiness in the hand of the surgeon, which sometimes causes theblade to enter a vital part, thereby causing agony, and very oftendeath. The improved guard prevents the blade from cutting any more thanthe thickness of the tissues which are to be separated7 while holdingsuch tissues apart.

1n the accompanying drawings forming apart of this application, and inwhich similar reference symbols indicate corresponding parts in theseveral views:

Figure 1 is a plan view of an improved scalpel constructed in accordancewith the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal edge View thereof;

Fig. 3 is an elevation with the parts opened out;

Fig. l is an edge View of the two-part handle;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the improved holding clip; and

Fig. 6 isa plan view of the improved blade.

Referring more particularly to the draw.- ings, wherein only a singleembodiment of the invention is shown, l and 2 designate two elongatedflat thin bars of resilient metal which, as indicated in Fig. Il, arebent centrally or bulged away from each other, while the ends areallowed to come into Vcontact'. l

A portion 3 of the outer face of one of the members, say 2, isroughened, corrugated, or otherwise treated to aiford a gripping surfacefor the thumb or other portion of the hand of the surgeon to facilitatehis grip on the handle made up by the two bars 1 and 2. fl`he bar l,near the end thereof, is provided with a pin Il adapted to enter acircularperforation 5 in the other bar 2 for the purpose of pivotallyconnecting the bars and centering the onevb'ar on the other. f The pin lis free to escape from the perforation 5 to allow the bars beingseparated.V

Near the other end of the bar 1 are secured a pair of spaced apart lugs6and Y projecting at right angles from the in ner face of said bar andarranged to receive, respectively, the perforations 8 and`9 in the blade10. Theblade 10 is advantageously constructed substantially after themanner shown in Fig. 6, `being of the general reotangular form havingthe rounded cutting edge 11. The opposite bar 2 is provided 1n its innerface, opposite the lugs 6 and 7, with recees or indentations 12 andl'for receiving the lugs 6 and 7, respectively, when the twofbars l and2 are placed together.

The blade 10 fits the lugs 6 and 7 substantially in the way shown inFig. 3, the cutting edgey 11 projecting beyond the similarly roundededge 14 of the; bar l. As

also shown in this figure, the edge of the l companion bar 2is alsorounded to conform Y to the curvature of therounded end 14C of the Vbar1, so that these two ends 14 and15 accurately correspond and provide aguard on opposite sides of the projecting edge 11 of the blade, thuspreventing too deep an incision or the passage of the knife into vitalparts.

The bars 1 and 2, at or near their central parts, are provided withperforations 16 and 17 that are adapted to register when the bars arebrought together, and provide for the entrance therethrough of arlug 18carried by a holding clip 19. This clip 19 is shown in Fig. 5, and ismade of rigid metal or other suitable material, having 'part thereofbent substantially Ufshaped, las indicatedat 20, while the remainingedge adjacent `such Ushaped clip 20 is left free, as indicated at 21.The free edge 21 allows the rotation of the holding clip about theperforations 16 and 17. The U-shaped part is of. a width correspondingsubstantially to the width of the two bars 1 and 2 so as to clamp thesame tightly together at their central bulged out portions7 as shown inFig. 2.

When the holding clip is in place, the bars 1 and 2 bulge out slightlybetween the clip and the blade, as indicated at 22 in Fig. 2. Thetendency of the bars 1 and'2 to expand frictionally holds the U-shapedpart 20 of the clip so that it is very difficult torotate the vsameaboutthe lug 18 to remove'this U-l shaped par't 20 from the bars 1 and2, but the compression Vof the bars 1 and 2 atthe point 22, shown inFig. 2, between the fingers, will relieve this frictional expansion to agreat extent from the U-shaped part. 2O

of the clip, and will render it comparatively easy for the clip -to berotated to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3 where the bars 1 and2 may springapart.

1t' will be understood from the that the improved scalpel cons'istsvofonly three parts, excluding the blade which may be renewed from time totime, and which is provided with an effectual guard formed by therounded edges 14. andV 15 .of the two handle bars 1 and 2.

It will furthermore Vbe appreciated that the device is exceedinglysimple in construc tion and cheap lof manufacture, while al-V lowing ofthe ready dismembering of the parts for purposes of sterilizing andtherenewal of blades, but Vvwhich will holdftogether most effectuallyand `not be apt to become accidentally displaced when assembled andduring the operation. It is obvious that those skilled in the art mayvary thedetails of construction and arrangements of parts withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention, and therefore I donot wish tobe limited to such features except as may be required by theclaims.`

foregoing Y v I claim: Y

l. Anliiiiproved,Y scalpeloiricluding a pair of elongatedl flat. thinresilient metal bars .adapted to be placed. together and having theircentral portions bulged away from each other, a pivot on one bar adaptedtoengage the other bar, a pair of-spaced apart lugs atftlie other end ofone of the bars for Y receiving the perforations in a removable v bladehaving a .rounded cutting edge extend ing beyond the adjacent end ofsaid bar, said bar and the companion bar .having similarly curved edgesextending Yinwardly from the edge of thefblade whereby to probarsVwhereby toclamp the same tightly therebetween when the bars are incloseV contact, thefedge'of the holdingclip beneath f the lug being leftfree topermit swinging of the clip about said lug, said bars adapted toY bulge out slightly between theholding clip andthe blade when the clipis .in position for engagement by the fingersto compress the barsVwhereby to ease the swinging of the holding clip, substantially asdescribed.

2; .An improved scalpel including a pair of elongated flat thin barsof'resilient material adapted to be placed together flatwise and havingYtheir. central portions bulged away from, each other, a pivot on one4bar adapted to engage therother bar to permit of the edgewiserelativeswinging of the bars in planes substantially parallel to Seach' other,

- means at the other end of one of the bars for receiving a removableblade having a rounded cutting edge extending beyondthe adjacent ends ofsaid bai-s, said bars Yhaving similarly curvededges extending inwardlyfrom the edge of the blade whereby to provide a guard therefcnsaid barsbeing, per-l forated centrally, andl a holding clip having a lugadapted-to pass throughV the central A' perforations andV formed withVaf substantially U-shaped portion at thenend'of ythe clip remote fromthe lug, saidU-sliap`ed` portion beingof awidth substantially equal tothe thickness of the two bars wherebyto clamp thejsam'etightlyltherebetween Vwhen the bai'slare inclose contact, the edge ofthe holding clip beneath .the lug being left. free vto lpermitswingingof the clip about said lug, said bars adapted to bulge outslightly HENRYWILLIAM Romane.

betweentheholding clip andthe blade'whefn iio Y

